Aerial railway for amusement purposes



May 15, 1923.

A. DAVINO ET AL AERIAL RAILWAY FOR AMUSEMENT PURPOSES 2 Sheeis-Sheet 1 E a my H 0% n 0 3 m WW F d Patented May 15, 1 923. I i

UNITE.

TENT oFncE.

AIPHONSO DAVINO AND FREDRICK P. SCI-IOBERLE, DE LOS ANGELES, CALIfFORNIA.

AERIAL RAILWAY FOR AMUSEIIENT PURPOSES.

Application filed June 29, 1922. Serial No. 571,328.

V T all whom it may concern Be it knownthat we, ALrHoNso DAVINO and FREDRICK P, SorIonnRLn, citizens of the United States," residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and Stateof California, have invented a certain new and useful Aerial Railway for Amusement. Purposes, of which the following is a specification. I

Our invention relates .to aerial railways, more particularly'to a thriller type of aerial railway for amusement purposes and the objects of our invention arez first, to provide an aerial railway of this class with a combination of flexible and rigid track structure; second, toprovide an aerial railway of this class in which substantially straight lines of track are frequently interrupted by sharp curves or turns and abrupt inclinations or declinations whereby avariable motion similar to aerial acrobatics is imparted to the passenger carriage suspended therefrom; third, to provide an aerial railway of this class with aflexible wheel carriage which will conform to the curvature of the rail and permit centrifugal and other forces to act directly upon the passenger carriage in a natural manner and which will reduce the strain upon the track structure and wheel carriage to a minimum; fourth, to provide an aerial railway of this class in which the power units are positioned on the wheel car-' riage and are directly and flexibly connected to the driving mechanism; fifth, to provide an aerial railway of this class in which the passenger carriage is resiliently suspended from the wheel carriage; sixth, toprovide a substantially torqueless aerial railway ca rriage; seventh, to provide av novelly -con-.

structed thriller type of aerial railway, and eighth, to provide an aerial railway of this class which is very simple and economical of construction proportionate to its function, durable, efficient, easy to operate and control and which will not readily deteriorate or get out of order.

With these and other objects in View as will appear hereinafter ourinvention consists of certainv novel features of construe tion, combination and arrangement of parts and. portions as will ,be hereinafter described in detail and particularly set forth in the appended claims, reference being had to'the accompanying drawings and to the characters of reference thereon which form a part of this application in which;

Figure 1 is a perspective View of our thriller type of aerial suspended railway with single cable flexible track construction i and rigid track construction at the suspension towers withpassenger carriages suspended at various angles and positions therefrom and terminating at a passenger terminal provided at one end. Fig. 2 182L114 other perspective view showing a slightly modified form of the thriller type of aerial suspended railway similar tothat shown in F 1g. 1 except that a doublecable flexible track construction and bridged suspension towers for a rigid construction is shown. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the wheel carriage suspended from the rails which are shown fragmentarily and with the passen" ger carriage suspended from said wheelcar riage, portions thereof being broken away to facilitate the illustration. Fig. 4; is a front elevational View of the passenger carriage. view of a power unit andthe driving mechanism mounted on they rail, portions being broken away to facilitate the illustration. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary end elevational view thereof and Fig. 7 is a sectional View taken Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary motors 27, propellers 28, and the rheostat controller 29 constitute the principal parts and portions of our. thriller type ofaerial railway structure. i

Our thriller type of aerial railway consists of a series of towers 2positioned in scattered and staggered relation to each other and to. thexpasseng'er terminal 1' in such a manner that when connected by and supportingthe suspended rail structureportions 3 between said towers. and the said passenger. terminal and the substantially I rigid-rail structure portionst at said towers connecting sald flexible rail structure portions, a, substantially interrupted and i regularly curved tFQ QBl is established between said terminal. and the various towers. The passenger carriages are sus pended from wheel carriages which are adapted to ride on and are guided by the rails 6, supported bysaid flexible and rigid track structure portions 3 and a respectively.

- Said passenger carriages are resiliently susson. of the forces of inertia and pended on said wheel carriages and are adapted to be acted upon and swing freely Other'fflanged wheels 12, adapted to ride on theloweriitace of said rails and revolubly mounted in said journal support members 7, are adapted to position and retain said wheel carriage o n said rails. The wheel carriage portions rld ng on the separate rails are laterally connected and reinforced by the horizontal frame members Otherframe members 10 are secured to the longitudinal, horizontal frame members Son either side of the wheel carriage intermediate journalsu'pport members 7 adapted to support the motor 20; A. beveled ear 13 is provided on the outer faces of t e larger flanged wheel 11 and preferably; integrally secured thereto and is adapted to mesh with the r beveled pinion 1ft substantially in alinement with the motor shaft Said bevel pinion is revolubly mounted on the cylindrical boss 75 secured to the journal support 7 and is retained thereon by a retaining ring 15 secured to .one endof thehub by means or the screws lti a nd which ring is shouldered against and retained by the enlarged collar perti on 7'? at the end of. the boss 7?. The bevel pinion 14 provided at the opposite I end tea said first mentioned hub portion with a H n bifurcated portion ld adapted to ive between the arms thereof the double aled universal jointmember 16 which I is 'p votally' connected at ts other ournal to the bifurcatedportion 17 of the universal i A r v n t a f e Whee ca nagej int member ae ei 7 is pro vi'ded at 'its other end with a'cylindrical shanli provided with a longitudinal key 17 which il is teleseopic ally mount the fee portion; l8, the universal joint 18; Said memberF-IS is similarly nected to 'thel motor shaft by the vet l W eit't'enlds through the motor and "is p'ted to" di'ive the "wheelsat the front I It W111 be th meter n. either e hi the are .binati'on and arrangement suhstantia .memberflg. The motor wheel carriage, run in opposite directions 2 so that the torque accompanyingfthe single niotor drive for an apparatus of this class is practically eliminated. The wheel carriage is provided on the under side near the front and rear ends thereof with downwardly extending support members 21 terminating ata centraljo urnal. The passenger carriage is provided with similar upwardly extending support members 22 which are pivotally mounted at their uppe-rr endsH-by the bolts 23 mounted in the journals {of the support members 21. The passenger carriage is held in a substantially:vertical alinernent with the wheel carriage, by, the tension spring 241 secured to either side and at either end: of

the wheel carriage at one *endand to said passenger carriage at the other end. electricalconductor 25 is positioned mar-- mediate the rails (Sand supported by the mu; structures 3 andA; A trolley'26, issecured to the wheel carriage and adapted'to engage the electrical condiictor 25 andp'ro vide electrical energy for the motors o-n'the wheel carriage and the electricalequipment in said passenger carriage.

provided in the head end of the passenger carriagg adapted-to drive thepropell r-E28 at'thefront of said passenger carriage A. rheostat controller 29 is located a con venient place in said passenger carriage for controlling the driving n echanismf I The passenger carriage is constructed similar to the conventional aeroplane fuse as pr wi vi e ur a es. suf im'itj 5 s e rrearan'ce;"Qffir gs;an

provided With under andtlie con i ventional tai surfaces. -v

In Flg 2 of the. drawings we have shown a slightly modified form of eur r thriller type cit aerial suspended railway with the double cable flexible track construction for} track suspension structure and also with some rigid, curved and inclined construction between some of the variou s. towers ios Though we haveshown and described v particular. construction, combination and ai -r s meh Of ehld r q s. wer

tain modification thereof we" d ofno't wish} to: be limitectto'this. particular constructiom combination or arrangement nor. to the modification but desire to include' in the scope ot ourinventionthie construeti m 13 m.-

as set forth in the appended claims Having thusdescrihed our invention what we claim as new H tersPatentis,: r p

1. Irish apparatus of theclass'described, a multi-curved, circuitous and inclined track; a laterally "flexible "wheel carriage '2. i In an apparatil s the class described eh es re. t? i fe by Leta flexible supporting structure, a substantially straight line of track frequently interrupted by sharp curves and abrupt inclinations suspended from said supporting structure, a flexible wheel. carriage mounted on said track and suspended therefrom, a passenger carriage resiliently suspended from-s id Wheel carriage, an electrical con ductor suspended from said supporting structure, motors mounted on said wheel carriage communicating with said electrical conductor and driving means connecting said motors with said track.

3. In an apparatus of the class described, a flexible supporting structure, a substantially straight line of track frequently interrupted by sharp curves and abrupt inclinations suspended from said supporting structure, a flexible wheel carriage mounted on said track and suspended therefrom, a passenger carriage resiliently suspended from said wheel carriage, an electrical conductor supported 7 by said structure, a motor mounted in said passenger carriage and a propeller mounted on the shaft of said motor.

4. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with rails, of a frame and journal supports pivotally mounted in said frame, wheels revolubly mounted in said journal supports, gear means connected to said wheels, motorsmounted in said frame,

,universal joint, shaft andbsleeve members connecting said motors to said gear means and saidwheels whereby said wheels are automatlcally ad usted axially with relation to the varying curvature in said rails, an

electrical conductor supported contiguous to said rails, a trolley mounted on said frame adapted to communicate with said conductor and a carriage resiliently mounted on said frame.

5. In an apparatus of the class described, the

combination with suspended rails, of a frame, journal supports pivotallymounted in said frame, flanged wheels revolubly mounted in said journal supports engaging and adapted to be guided by said rails on two sides, a

gear means connected to the said wheels, motors flexibly connected to said gear'means, whereby said wheels are automatically adjusted axiallyv with relation to the varying curvature of the rails, and a carriageresiliently suspended from said frame 6. In an apparatus of the class described,

the combination with suspended rails, ofa

frame, journal supports *pivotally mounted in said frame, flanged wheels 'revolubly mountedin said journal supports engaging and adapted to be guided by said rails on" 4 twosides, a'gear meansconnected to the said wheels, motors flexibly connected to said gear means whereby said wheels are auto matically adjusted axially with relation to the varying curvature of the rails, anelectrical conductor positioned contiguous to said rails, a trolley mounted on said frame adapt ed to communicate with said conductor and carriage-resiliently suspendedfrom said frame. j i l v v 7 In'anapparatus of the class described,

the combination with suspended rails, of a frame, a journal support mounted in said frame, flanged wheels revolubly mounted in said journal support and pivotally mounted with relation to said rails .whereby said with their relation to the varying curvatures in said rails, and a self-propelled carriage we have hereunto llngeles, Callfornia,

'75 'wheels are automatically adjusted axially 

